No new COVID-19 cases were reported on June 23 and there are only 15 patients testing positive for the coronavirus, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Lao students have body temperatures checked up at Chieng Khuong border gate in Son La province. (Photo: VNA)

The country has gone 69 consecutive days without COVID-19 infections within the community by 6am June 24, it noted.

Among the 349 cases confirmed in the country so far, 209 were imported and quarantined upon arrival.

Some 7,157 people who had close contact with patients or were in pandemic-hit areas are under medical monitoring or quarantine.

On June 23, Patient 328 was discharged from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the northern province of Hai Duong. The one-year-old boy will continue to be under quarantine and health monitoring for 14 days.

The number of recoveries in Vietnam now stands at 329, or 94.3 percent of the total, and zero fatalities have been reported to date.

Most of the 20 remaining patients are now in a stable condition, with two testing negative for the coronavirus once and three negative at least twice.

Thai Education Ministry assures school’s safety

Parents are worrying about their children’s safety at school, as on July 1, the school semester will start. The Ministry of Education, however, has assured families that each school has already prepared safety measures.

Varavij Kambhu Na Ayudhaya, Advisor to the Minister of Education, said the ministry has been working with the Department of Health, and has issued guidelines for educational institutions including six health measures.

Ninety percent of the schools have already implemented the guidelines while the rest are expected to follow before the semester starts.

However, there are still some concerns such as practicing social distancing, because only 31,000 schools can manage to arrange students’ desks 1.5 m away from each other.

This means students in the other 4,500 schools will have to take turns attending classes, and be given supplementary classes online.

Another concern is the length of the semester that has been reduced to 180 days from its original length of 200 days.

The ministry has ordered the schools to compensate for the 20 days by providing additional classes or activities in order to allow the students to finish the course.

Other concerns that the Ministry of Education has already prepared for, include social distancing when on a school bus, and during afternoon naps for kindergarten groups, along with taking turns to have lunch, and even a criterion that needs to be met, in any change to a school period.

In addition the ThaiChana QR code will be used in the school.

Meanwhile, schools located near national borders that usually welcome foreign kids from nearby countries, will no longer be able to receive these students without them undergoing 14 days of quarantine in a state quarantine. However, such students can pick up their homework at the border checkpoint and hand it in later.

One-year-old boy returning from Russia clear of coronavirus

One more COVID-19 patient recovered on Tuesday as Việt Nam hit 68 days without new community infections.

The latest coronavirus patient to be given the all-clear was a one-year-old Vietnamese boy, identified as Patient No.328, treated at Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the northern province of Hải Dương.

The boy from Thanh Hoá Province tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 late last May.

He was among the 300 Vietnamese citizens on a repatriation flight from Russia that arrived in Vân Đồn international airport in Quảng Ninh Province on May 13. The passengers were immediately brought to a Government-run quarantine facility.

He reportedly contracted the virus due to close contacts with another confirmed case on the flight.

This flight has added 34 confirmed COVID-19 cases to Việt Nam’s tally of 209 imported cases, out of the total of 349.

As of today, Russia is the world's third-biggest coronavirus hotspot, with nearly 600,000 confirmed cases and 8,400 deaths.

Also according to the Tuesday evening report, two patients in treatment have tested negative for the virus once while another three have tested negative twice.

Currently, 7,157 people are in quarantine across Việt Nam, including 124 being closely monitored at hospitals. 

Philippines, Indonesia confirm thousands of new COVID-19 cases

The Philippine Health Ministry on June 23 announced 1,150 more COVID-19 cases, a record in a day since the outbreak in the country.

The total infections have amounted to 31,835, including 1,186 deaths.

The same day, Indonesia also recorded additional 1,051 cases, bringing the total to 47,896.

Indonesia also records the highest fatalities of 2,535 East Asia, not to mention China where the pandemic broke out.

Also on June 23, Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)’s Investment Operations D.J. Pandian said the AIIB has approved a total of 1 billion USD in loans for two projects in Indonesia as part of a coordinated international effort to support the Indonesian government’s plans to strengthen the country’s social safety network, bolster its health response and stem the economic downturn from the coronavirus health crisis.

US presents more aid to Laos’ COVID-19 response

The US has provided an additional 2.5 million USD to Laos through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the country’s COVID-19 response, reported Vientiane Times newspaper on June 23.

The newspaper quoted US Ambassador to Laos Peter M. Haymond as saying that the additional funding from the US reaffirms the commitment under the US-Laos comprehensive partnership.

The assistance will support tasks to mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian nation.

Through this latest funding, USAID will also support Lao laboratories by helping them diagnose and detect COVID-19 infections to minimise the risk of community transmissions.

The US has presented in excess of 7.5 million USD to help Laos respond to the pandemic.

In February, USAID provided medical equipment to help Laos’ frontline health workers. The US agency followed up with more than 1.9 million USD in the next month while the US Centers for Disease Control handed over about 3.17 million USD to Laos in May.

The US has earmarked nearly 92 million USD for public health cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation over the past 20 years./. 

Cambodia: school opening to be delayed till year’s end

Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport will delay school openings and high school graduation examinations until the end of the year to prevent a second wave of COVID-19.

Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron said schools will be reopened if they can adhere to high standards or COVID-19 prevention and control.

Speaking at a press conference for the construction of the “Centre for Digital and Distance Education” at Preah Sisowath High School last weekend, the minister said although the government moves to offer digital learning services, about half of Cambodia’s 3 million students still cannot fully access online lessons.

He said the government’s stance is to maintain vigilance as it doesn’t want the pandemic to spread again in Cambodia, adding that if COVID-19 spreads in Cambodia, the country will be set back 10 to 20 years.

Schools in the country have been closed since early March when the first case of COVID-19 was detected.

Cambodia has reported 130 COVID-19 cases so far, with two being treated in hospitals./.

Indonesia gets 1 billion USD in loans for COVID-19 response

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced on June 23 that it and other banks had approved loans totalling 1 billion USD loan to help strengthen Indonesia’s health and economic responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

AIIB’s first loan for Indonesia, totaling 750 million USD and co-financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will be used for a project to support Indonesia’s economic recovery programme, including aid for small and medium businesses and vulnerable households.

Another loan worth 250 million USD in partnership with the World Bank is intended for a separate programme to strengthen the public healthcare response to the crisis, including testing, prevention and treatment of the virus, and to boost hospital readiness.

Speaking at a meeting on June 23, Indonesian Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara appreciated AIIB for the quick response and flexibility when it comes to the urgent needs of member countries during the health and economic crises.

These loans are important for Indonesia to support health care and expand social assistance programmes for the poor and vulnerable people to reduce the adverse social and economic impacts of COVID-19, he said.

Thailand continues testing COVID-19 vaccine on monkeys

Thai scientists on June 22 administered a second dose of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to monkeys, looking for another positive response to enable clinical trials in humans as early as October this year.

Thirteen monkeys were immunised on the day and the next two weeks will be critical in determining whether researchers can proceed with further tests.

Thailand’s government is backing the trials and hopes it can have a cost-effective vaccine manufactured domestically and ready for next year.

Regarding the COVID-19 situation in Southeast Asia, the Indonesian health ministry on June 22 confirmed more 954 infections, bringing the total cases nationwide to 46,854.

The country also reported 35 more deaths, raising the total number of fatalities to 2,500.

The Philippine Ministry of Health on the day detected 630 new cases and eight deaths, raising the tallies to 30,682 and 1,177, respectively./.